Pallet construction



y 1950 M- L. CRAWFORD 2,506,346

PALLET CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 25, 1946 INVENTOR.

Patented May 2, 1950 PALLET CONSTRUCTION Madison L. Crawford, Battle Creek, Mich assignor to Clark Equipment Company, Buchanan, Mich a corporation of Michigan Application January 25, 1946, Serial No. 643,352

1 Claim.

This invention relates to pallets, and more particularly is concerned with a lightweight economical pallet for use specifically in the handling of materials by fork trucks.

One of the objections to the use of fork trucks in the handling of material such as bagged material has been the expense involved in the use of pallets, the normal type of pallet now in use being so costly that it is necessary that it be reused in order to recover its original cost. However, this introduces the problem of considerable freight charges for returning the pallet from its destination back to the point of origin of the shipment of goods. Normally, double faced type pallets are used which are quite bulky and occupy considerable space.

The present invention contemplates the use of a pallet for bagged material which is of relatively simple design suilicient for the purpose of picking up a load of such material and transporting it into a freight car or truck, but the initial cost of the pallet being such that it may be readily disposed of at the destination, thus not requiring its return or reuse.

I contemplate particularly the provision of a pallet made of corrugated fiber or paperboard so formed as to be sufficiently strong to carry the desired load of bagged material, but of a cost which is such as to allow its disposal without materially adding to the cost of transporting the goods.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more fully from the following detailed description which, taken in con- Junction with the accompanying drawings, will disclose to those skilled in the art the particular construction and operation of a preferred form of the present invention.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of a pallet construction in accordance with the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of e l.

Rafe now in detail to the drawing, there is indicated a pallet of generally rectangular contion as shown by reference numeral 5, this pallet having a series of parallel semi-cylindrical extensions 6 formed on the surface thereof, these extensions being open for receiving the projecting fork portions or finger portions carried by a lift truck of the fork type. As shown more in detail in Figure 2, the pallet consists of a base po ion 88 having a double thickness of relatively stifl cardboard or fiber board 42 on the bottom thereof and a double thickness of the same material, indicated at It, on the upper surface thereof, the two surfaces being separated by a double thickness of corrugated fiber board ll which acts as a spacing and reinforcing member and is securely glued to the inner ones of both the top and bottom surfaces.

The longitudinally extending semi-cylindrical members 6 are formed as independent members comprising arcuate double thicknesses of paperboard, indicated at 15, forming an outer surface and inner double thicknesses l6 defining the channel or opening through which the forks l are adapted to extend. Spacing these layers apart and providing for rigidity and strength in the member 6 are the double corrugated separators I! which are glued to both the inner and outer layers, and the whole assembly is provided with a flat base I 8 which is securely glued together and also securely glued to the upper surface of the top layers l3 of the main body portion of the pallet.

It has been found that a pallet construction in accordance with the illustration herein has sufficient strength for use in the transportation of bagged material such as is shown diagrammatically at 20 in Figure 1, and yet can be so economically manufactured that it can be disposed of without imposing an undue burden upon the transportation cost of the material.

The provision of the longitudinal members 3 on the upper surface of the body portion of the pallet is desirable to provide for keying-of the bagged material in position, since it provides an uneven surface by which this material is more or less locked against displacement. It is obvious, however, that the pallet may be reversed in position with the longitudinal members 6 on the under surface for use where a flat top surface for the pallet is desired. It is also to be understood that with the use of a pallet of this type it is desirable that the conventional type of fork truck be equipped with three forks rather than two in order to provide more uniform support of the pallet and its associated load.

It is apparent that various changes may in made in the details of the assembly of the fiber board material for constructing the pallet and I. therefore, do not intend to be limited except as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claim.

I claim:

A pallet comprising a stiff rectangular planar body member formed of double layers of heavy.

86 paper board separated by a corrugated paper board spacer glued together as an integral unit to form a planar base and a plurality of tubular members secured on the upper surface'of said body member and arranged in parallel laterally spaced relationship for raising the extending flngers of a. fork type industrial truck, said tubular members comprising enclosed semi-cylindrical members having the flat side thereof secured to said body member and each composed of double layers of heavy paper/board separated by a corrugated spacer and glued together as an integral unit, the arcuate surfaces of said members and the intermediate upper siu'face of said base forming the load receiving surface for said pallet.

MADISON 'L. CRAWFORD. l6

4 summons crmn' The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date v 1,605,901 O'Neil Now}, 1926 1,835,825 Thierry Dec. '8, 1931 1,931,458 Lang Oct. 17, 1933 2,388,730 Fallert Nov. 13, 1945 2,412,184 U'linski Dec. 3, 1946 2,444,183 Cahners June 29, 1948 

